


Operation Declined

by kateorangesky11



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Gen, Gravity Falls AU/UA
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-29
Updated: 2015-03-30
Packaged: 2018-05-24 01:18:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6136393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kateorangesky11/pseuds/kateorangesky11
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Grunkle Stan is a hard man to believe. And that may cost him everything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Mabel winced as Dipper crashed into Stan and Soos, wrestling with them in the zero gravity. She held onto the cancel switch tighter, the metal cold and slick. She could feel the portal behind her pulling at her ever so slightly, tendrils of force that made her feel as though she were floating out and away from the scene in front of her.

“Mabel, press the red button. Shut it down!” Dipper cried.

“No! You can’t! You gotta trust me!” Stan—or whoever he was—pleaded. Mabel felt a sinking in her gut. Trust. What had Dipper’s book said?

_Trust no one._

Mabel felt tears pressing out of her eyes. “Grunkle Stan, I don’t even know if you’re my Grunkle,” she said around the lump lodged in her throat. Stan, who’d taken them in over the summer. Stan, who’d taken them fishing, who fought zombies for them, who patted her on the head when he was proud of her and called her “sweetie”. Even this morning, when they’d been setting off fireworks and playing with water balloons…Had that all been a lie?

“I want to believe you, but…” _I don’t know if I can._

“Then listen to me,” Stan said. “Remember this morning when I said I wanted to tell you guys something—“

“ **T-minus twenty seconds.** ”

The portal behind her let out a mighty burst of energy, blasting Soos, Stan, and Dipper against the walls of the room. Mabel held on for dear life. If she let go of this button…She looked up to see that all three of the boys were held against the wall opposite her. She let out a sigh when she saw that none of them had been hurt. Suddenly she felt as though someone were lifting her up from her navel. She barely had time to regain her grip on the switch when the portal gave another heaving crash, this time yanking her towards it. It felt like someone were pulling on her ankles, some invisible force trying to suck her into the oblivion. Adrenaline and fear rushed through her. This machine, this thing that her uncle had activated, was trying to swallow her whole.

The sensation fell away as quickly as it had come, and with it went Mabel’s doubts. Dipper was right. This thing was dangerous. It was going to destroy the whole world. Candy, Grenda, Wendy, Soos, Mom, Dad, Dipper…all of them. Gone. She raised her hand, ready to bring it down on the blinking red light and end this once and for all.

“I wanted to say that you’re gonna hear some bad things about me…” Stan began. Mabel’s hand stopped. “…and some of them are true. But trust me—“ _There it is again. Trust._ “—everything I’ve worked for—everything I care about—it’s all for this family.” Mabel couldn’t take her eyes away from him. When had he gotten that wound on his hand? Why hadn’t she noticed it before?

“Mabel, what if he’s lying?” Dipper cried. Her eyes darted to her brother. Her brother who had never let her down. “This thing could destroy the universe—Listen to your head!”

Mabel gazed back at the portal, fear bubbling its way to the back of her neck. It was terrifying. Absolutely terrifying. The lights whirled in a sickening circle, faster and faster, completely at odds with the horrifying stillness of the space inside. The machine whirred and crashed, sounding for all the world like the universe ending. Dipper was right. He must be right. He’d read all of the journals, and the author had never led them astray before. And Stan…

“Look into my eyes, Mabel!” Stan pleaded. Her head turned to face him, glad for an excuse to look away from the terrifying chaos behind her. But the chaos in front of her was almost worse. She could feel her uncle’s—this man’s—desperation like it was a living thing, clawing and her throat and curling itself around her heart. “You really think I’m a bad guy?” he gasped. _No, but—_

“He’s lying! Shut it down now!” Dipper shouted. _No, but—_

“Mabel, please!” Stan cried.

“ **Ten.** ”

_Stan Pines—Dead._

“ **Nine.** ”

_“There you go, sweetie. Set something on fire for your Grunkle Stan.”_

“ **Eight.** ”

Dipper’s eyes. Stan’s eyes. Both tired. Both desperate. _Whose can I trust?_

“ **Seven.** ”

_Why is this on me? This machine…The whole universe. Candy and Grenda, gone. Wendy, gone. Soos—_

“ **Six.** ”

_Mom, gone. Dad, gone. Dipper, gone. Dipper, dead. Stan—_

“ **Five**.”

“Grunkle Stan…” she choked out. Her hand shook over the flashing red light.

“ **Four.** ”

“I’m sorry.” Her fist slammed into the hard glass.

“MABEL, NO—!!”

“ **Operation declined. Goodbye.** ”


	2. Chapter 2

The portal flashed red, and for a moment, Mabel was afraid that she had accidentally set it off. She flashed a look behind her, where the wheel around the gateway was slowly coming to a stop. With one last creak, all lights from it went out and the machine came to a halt. Gravity returned with a vengeance, pulling Mabel to the hard ground. Pieces of dust and rock fell on her like rain, one gashing her cheek. The thick cords and wires connected to the machine dug into her sides. She heard the thumps as gravity fell back on the others as well. She rolled onto her back, coughing dust from her lungs. A weight settled in her gut that had nothing to do with gravity.

“Mabel!” she heard her brother calling. She wheezed as she sat up, supporting herself on her frail arms. She had barely gotten her bearings when a weight plowed into her, nearly knocking her over. It was Dipper. He was on his knees beside her, arms wrapped around her. He was shaking, but whether it was from laughing or crying, she couldn’t tell. Or maybe it was her who was shaking.

“—oh Mabel Mabel Mabel,” her brother was saying in her ear. “You trusted me. I knew it. I knew it I knew it I knew it.” He clutched her harder, though she had a hunch the crushed feeling in her chest had nothing to do with his embrace. Her hands slowly found his sides. She could feel the hard surface of the journal she knew he had in his vest, and the stone in her gut grew heavier.

“Mabel, you did it!” Dipper said, pulling away from her. He was beaming, his eyes lit from within with unbridled joy. “You did it! You saved the universe!” He frowned at her then, taking her face in his hands. Dust and rocks rested in his hair, and he had a scratch or two on him, but he didn’t seem to feel it. His fingers were rough against her skin. He swiped at her cheek with his thumb. “Hey, it’s okay,” he said. It wasn’t until then that she realized she was crying. She felt the tears now falling over her cheeks, leaving icy tracks behind. Dipper swiped at them again. “It’s okay, Mabel,” he murmured. “We did it. Mystery Twins.” He touched his forehead to hers, continuing to comfort her as she cried.

_Dipper’s right. We did it. We saved the world._

_Then why am I still crying?_

Dipper slowly rose to his feet, holding his hands out to her. That look on his face, like everything was right with the world, it looked so nice. _Then why don’t I feel it?_ She took her brother’s hands and slowly rose to her feet. She glanced again at the machine behind her. This portal, this machine, this thing, looked so…dead. She couldn’t think of any other word for it. It looked dead. Suddenly she felt Dipper’s hands squeeze hers harder. She looked back at him, but he was looking away, toward the opposite end of the room. His face was hard and cold, and it frightened Mabel to see her brother that way. She wanted to shake him, to hold him, something to keep him from looking so detached.

She followed his gaze. A dark shape was hunched against the wall, shaking, and a dull, painful moaning began to echo around the room, sending chills up Mabel’s spine. The noise…it didn’t sound human. Or it sounded too human. Mabel felt it in a deep dark place in her soul she was afraid to look. Instinctually Mabel shifted closer to Dipper, who immediately wrapped an arm around her shoulders. He was warm and comforting next to her. He was whispering something to her, something about being safe, but she couldn’t pay attention. All of her focus was on this shadow of a man she once called her great uncle.

She registered a shape she knew was Soos out of the corner of her eye. He seemed to be alright enough to stand, but no one dared move or speak as the moaning grew. Mabel was even afraid to breathe. She clutched Dipper’s jacket, feeling again the journal tucked into the inside pocket. He put his hand over hers— _to comfort me or to check that the journal’s still there?_ Her other hand at Dipper’s collar clutched at the fabric there. _Of course to comfort me. Dipper cares more about me than that stupid journal._

The shadow clutched at his hair. His fez was flung to one side, crushed and forgotten. Their uncle seemed to get smaller and smaller the longer Mabel gazed at him, and that sound, that noise—He was crying. More than that. This man, this grown man was sobbing, his breath hitching and stopping in his chest, his hands pulling harder and harder at his grey hair. The wound on his hand seemed to have opened again, for the blood had soaked the gauze around it and was now dripping from his hand, dyeing his clothes and hair.

Mabel felt tears burn her eyes. This man, this poor man, this man she loved, was suffering. She had never seen anyone cry like that, not when the dog died, not even when her mom’s mom passed away last year. He seemed barely human, condensed and whittled down to a shell of what he had been. She hated to see him like this. The snake coiled around her heart tightened, pulling her toward him, but Dipper’s arm tightened around her shoulder. The stone in her gut grew so heavy that she almost fell to the floor with the weight of it, but Dipper’s sure hands kept her upright. In fact, if Dipper hadn’t been there, she was sure that she would have melted into the crust of the earth until she was nothing but nothing.

Stan was now muttering something in between his hitches and sobs, in between the cries and moaning. He pushed his feet into the hard ground like he was trying to get away from something. He had ceased pulling at his hair and was now grinding his hands into the ground, making new wounds in the palms. Mabel’s hand flew to her mouth. It was too much to bear.

“I’m s—I’m s—rry I’m sorry I’m sorry I c—ldn’t and you—“ he was stammering. Stan’s chest then expanded with what seemed like the first real breath he’d had in years.

“ _THIRTY YEARS!_ ” His gravel-filled voice boomed around the room, bouncing from wall to wall and making Mabel jump five feet out of her skin. She wanted nothing more than to run away. “Thirty years!” he cried again, transforming the words into a sort of battle cry. Soos bolted to her side, placing himself slightly in front of her and Dipper, a solemn expression on his face. But Mabel could see the red blotches around his eyes, the reflection of light off of the tracks his tears made down his face, the way his entire body shook as if it took all of the strength he had to stand upright.

_Oh, Soos. What have we all done?_


End file.
